


Tall Tale

by TheWritingNutcase



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Help, I don't know what I'm doing, Rating and warnings may change as chapters continue, Siren!Levi, get ready, medium build, mentons of underage drinking, reader is like 19 and a fresh 2 years out of high school, shit happens, when I actually upload chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-02-13 12:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2151090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingNutcase/pseuds/TheWritingNutcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up and currently residing in an appartment in Georgia offers a peaceful lifestyle. Your job gives you enough money to successfully pay bills and enjoy luxuries like chicken ramen dinners and late night liquor cabinet visits. What you need, is a vacation. A trip to the Caribbean won't hurt, right? Wrong. </p><p>Surprise hurricanes, dead friends, kidnapping, fish murder, strange places, and no sign of any aspirin? </p><p>I didn't graduate highschool for this. </p><p> </p><p>*originally Beneath The Waves. on slight hiatus. Plot and chapters being redone.*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cliche Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well! 7 months since I started the FIC and uploaded a chapter, I think it's about time we had an upload, eh? I changed everything, so restart from the beginning. Same plot and characters, but major plot elements were changed.

There was nothing wrong with barely graduating high school. I mean, you graduated, right? No biggie. But dad apparently was disappointed that you weren't some second Einstein or an honor role kid. You know, the kids they make bumper stickers about? Apparently the definition of pride was slapping a sticker onto the ass of your car. Oh well. You wee here now, no going back. 

You walked lazily through the grocery store, eyeing the contents of the shelves and cringing at the prices. You maintained a medium income job as a receptionist in the loneliest hospital in the state of Georgia. Luxuries like steak dinners and pepper jack sausage with pasta were far off by the time you payed your bills every month. At this point, you were reduced to hamburger helper and instant Mac and cheese. But hey, ramen targeted people like you. 

You snatched two six packs of chicken flavored ramen and threw them into the hand held basket hanging from the crook of your arm. You sauntered to the drinks section and grabbed a six pack of vitamin water, then headed for the checkout lanes. You grabbed a pack of gum, payed, then hopped into the drivers seat of your 2009 cherry red camery. Sexy car, right? It was no lambo, but it got you around. 

The drive home was always beautiful. You lived in a rural part of Georgia. You know, with horses and fruit growers and stuff. All that wide open plains crap. But you loved the scenery. It always caught your eye. But hey, who doesn't appreciate a pretty picture? Show me one man who doesn't. You pulled into the driveway of your tiny yellow house on the other side of a Tennessee walker breeding business. 

Your mom was sympathetic, unlike your dad. She helped you get started and find a house, generously seeking out this two story Auntie-Em looking thing in the country. It had a decent view of the shit filled pastures and a rough interior that took some serious remodeling before it could really be called home. Of course, mom payed for everything. 

Your parents were pretty well off. Dad was the head of some company, and mom was a lawyer. They were raking in some serious dough. You, however, were still stuck with your receptionist position. Go team low income. But it helped pay for the necessities of life, and for that, you didn't complain.

Too much.

You threw the ramen and vitamin water into the panty and retired to your queen sized wooden bed in the master. You pulled your phone out of your pocket and scrolled through the contacts list. It was Saturday, and Saturday meant that your friends were busy. You didn't have a lot of friends, but you kept a decent few from work. You decided on Marley, the upbeat head nurse in the trauma ward. For someone working in the most serious place on earth, you'd never seen anyone so upbeat and excited. The blonde was always smiling about something at the beginning of every day. All the nice weather and beautiful birds shit. 

You: Hey, what's up? Read 2:46 pm.

Mar Mar: Nuthin much, u? 

You: Just laying around, bored :/ Read 2:48 pm.

Mar Mar: I'm glad you texted me. I've been thinking about something.

You: Holy shit. Are you feeling well? Read 2:50 pm. 

Mar Mar: Haha, you're hilarious. 

Mar Mar: Anyway, how do you feel about the Caribbean?

You: I've always wanted to go. Prime photography there. Read 2:52 pm.

Photography was a side hobby of yours when you weren't filing paperwork and ignoring the agonized moans and wails of patients and families alike.

Mar Mar: I'm so glad you said that!

Mar Mar: I'm planning a group vacation to the Caribbean with Sandy, Thea, and Bri! You wanna come along!?

Your heart skipped a beat. Do you wanna go? Of course you do! But then your excitement hit a wall. 

You: What about work? Read 2:55 pm.

Mar Mar: I'll pull some strings to get us a good two weeks off.

Marley and the manager were in a secret relationship that everyone knew about. It wasn't even for a raise or good graces, it was because the guy looked like a damn pornstar. Like, literally. His ass was gorgeous. 

You: OF COURSE ILL GO!! Read 2:57 pm.

Mar Mar: YAY! Pack your shit, I'll send you the plane ticket and the details. We leave in 5 days! 

You: I have never loved you more than I do right now, marmar. Read 2:59 pm.

Mar Mar: Don't mention it ^.^

Mar Mar: AND STOP CALLING ME MAR MAR!

You: Fat chance, marmar. Read 3:01 pm.

You locked your phone and shoved it into your back pocket while you grabbed your purse and keys. You have some shopping to do.


	2. Kodak Moment

You laughed and plunged your hand into the aquamarine waters, splashing Sandy playfully. The brunette squealed and ducked behind her raised hands. 

5 days went faster than you thought it would. The 5 of you successfully planned a two week trip in under three days. All expenses were paid by Marley's parents, who were filthy damn rich. The expenses for a trip to the Caribbean was like paying for a snickers bar to them. But that's not important.

The sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky, just as the weatherman predicted. A great day to rent a small sailboat. You lifted the camera around your neck and took a surprise picture of Bri toying with the sail. She darted behind the cover of a sail and yelped.

"(F/N)!" You cackled and studied the photo of the blurred darkskin woman. 

"I've never seen water this clear before!" Thea, the smallest and more timid of the group, peered over the side of the boat. You followed her, watching a small school of colored fish dart under the boat. You pulled a thick sea creature guide your dad gave to you as a kid out of a pouch on your hip attached to your belt. 

"Apparently those are are Spotfin Butterfly fish." You announced, watching their yellow sails dart out from the other side of the boat. A few feet down, small batches of coral and anemone hid tiny fish from the sun. The batches grew less and less common as you sailed into deeper water. You turned and pulled a sandwich from the cooler under a mounted wooden bench.

"I think I earned some lunch, how about you guys?" 

Storytelling quickly fired up as you all sat in a crowded circle and gorged on simple sandwiches made back at the condo. Marley wiped a tear from her eye as she told a story about two of her coworkers.

"And then Mark got SO MAD At Devin that he picked up some banana bread and threw it at him! Before we knew it, there was food everywhere, those two were CAKED in banana bread, and the surrounding customers fled the cafe! We've been banned ever since!" The woman toppled backwards in a fit of laughter. Amidst the laughter, you choked on a piece of harvarti cheese and spat it over the ledge into the water, earning heavier laughter from everyone else.

Your laughter dying down, darkness on the horizon caught your eye. Thick clouds towered into the sky and loomed over the sea in a wall of darkness that was quickly heading your direction. Thunder rumbled deep in the belly of the clouds, and the water around you began to lap angrily at the boat. 

"Party's over, guys." You warned. "Take us home." 

The boat was turned around in no time, riding the front winds into shallower water. But the storm was faster, and soon pelting rain began to soak through all of your clothing. You struggled to protect your camera from the rain and threw it into the cooler with the ice packs.

The sky was now a deep grey. Large waves tossed the boat around like a toy as everyone struggled to stay on. Lightening cracked overhead, causing everyone to crouch and cover their heads. The steering wheel spun out of control and guaranteed a missing hand to anyone that grabbed for it. 

"WATCH THE MAST!" You yelled into the wind. The plastic tube began to crack down the middle. You pushed Bri out of the way as it toppled down and crashed through the back end of the boat. Black water quickly filled the boat. Everyone screeched as the front end of the boat came out of the water and threw everyone into the churning waves. 

You were pushed down under the water, fighting the current to reach the top. You surfaced and took a large gulp of air before a tall wave crashed over your head and pulled you under again. You fought and surfaced again, paddling against the angry current to a floating broken piece of the boat.

"MARLEY!" Your voice was drowned out by the roaring storm, reducing you to a muffled whisper.

You spat out salty water collecting in your mouth. "THEA!" 

The freezing water numbed your whole body. Your energy was drained, and it was a battle to keep clinging to the piece of boat that was wrenching with the pull of every wave. Darkness began to cloud your vision. You called out again, but heard nothing as your ears fell deaf to anything but the roar. Blackness pulled you in to a peaceful place.


	3. Aw Shit, I Tore My Damn Shirt

You woke in the soft embrace of cool sand. The grains caressed your sore cheek, urging you back to sleep. But you didn't feel like going back to sleep. Groggily, you blinked sleep away and hissed at a waking pounding headache. Your clothes clung to you in *ahem* uncomfortable places and you felt cold. You shivered softly and sat up, inspecting your tattered clothing. Your shirt was torn in three places, and your jeans were ripped beyond repair. Your belt and pouch was layed out neatly next to you. The buckle appeared to be broken, but the pouch was in decent shape. 

Your face twisted in disgust as you inspected a freely bleeding would to the side of your left calf. "What the hell happened?" You hummed and looked around you, eyes widening as your sentence trailed off. 

You were in a large cavern type room. The walls were covered in brilliantly glowing amethyst rock, who's light source remained unknown. Pearly white sand provided a gorgeous accent to the sparkling purple gems. On one end of the dome like room, a small natural walk through bent into a separate place unseen. If only you had your camera. 

You stood slowly, hissing at your leg wounds defiance. You hobbled to the wall and steadied against the cold rock. The walk through was made of the same amethyst rock and sand and half the size of the dome. It was narrow, only about two people across, and lead to the mouth of a tiny pool of seawater. You inspected the softly bubbling water, wondering if it was your way out. But the deep, black water didn't look any sort of inviting, so you turned to inspect the previous room. 

The water behind you splashed suddenly. You froze, turning slowly around. A small pair of narrowed silver eyes peered above the water and stared at you. You screamed, backing away and falling onto your butt. 

"Jesus Christ, kid, will you calm the fuck down?" A black haired man poked his head above the water. 

"You scared the shit out of me!" You snapped. 

The man simply clicked his tongue and flung his crossed arms onto the sand bank. Wait, were those small fins on the side of his arms? And his skin was unusually white and glittery. He stared at you expectantly, as if waiting for a response of some sort. But you were too focused on the fins behind his ears and the slits in his neck. 

"You're awfully glittery for a man." Your voice wavered softly. Wait. You've seen this somewhere. Tall tales, that's what they're called. Stories of things that never really happened. Things that never existed. Fiction. 

Except this wasn't fiction. It was sitting right in front of you. Your heart started beating like a mad man and your palms clammed over with sweat. In a flurry of limbs, you sprinted into the other room and pressed your back against the amethyst, chest heaving. That didn't happen. It didn't. There's no way. People don't have gills or fins, and fins and gills do not grow on people. 

A heavy sigh resonated from the pool. "Get back here and let me explain." The command was followed with angry muttering. 

"Y-You're not the boss of me!" You shouted back. Yeah, you show them who the real boss is, (F/N). 

"'Should have left your punk ass in the ocean to drown." He called back. You froze. What did he just say?

You peeked your head around the corner, shuffling your feet in the sand. "What did you just say?" 

Without blinking, he repeated his statement and watched you for a response. No, he dared you for a response. Your brow furrowed.

"For your information, sir, I happen to be a very good swimmer." You boasted.

"Oh really? So when you were 11 feet underwater and unconscious, surrounded by blood and sand tiger sharks, you had the whole situation handled?" He propped up his elbow and planted his chin in a porcelain hand. You limped to the edge of the pool- a decent distance from arms reach, mind you- and sat down. 

"Explain." You demanded. 

"You were the victim of a boat accident. I saved your ass, but your friends didn't get so lucky." He cooly replied. Boat accident? Friends? What? You weren't out boa . . . At that instant, everything flooded back. The Caribbean trip, the boat, the plane ride, everything.

Tears formed in the corners of your eyes and your hands flew to your mouth. "Oh my god. Sandy. Thea. Marley." You choked out. You hung your head and let your hair cover your face. 

"Hey, hey woah, stop crying, don't do that." He warned. You wiped your eyes on your sleeve and looked up, your cheeks red. 

"Crying is gross, don't do it." He commanded. 

Your brow furrowed. "Who are you to tell me what to do?" You snapped. 

The man tensed, the fins behind his ears fanning out like an angry bird. "Your only lifeline, that's who." 

You growled, wiping your eyes again. You spent a few minutes of silence studying him out of the corner of your eye. He was extremely strong, from what you could tell. The skin on his body out of the water was pulled tight over thick muscle. Anything below his chest was below the water, so you could only assume it was the same way. He wasn't too bad on the eyes. Kinda handsome, 10/10 would recommend to a friend. You noticed he was watching you the same way and squirmed.

I gotta break the silence. 

You fixed your hair and took a deep breath. "Tell me more." You asked. 

The man eyed you. "I'll tell you more later."

You frowned and gestured to his arms. "Can you explain the whole fins business?" 

He sighed heavily and rested his forehead on the edge of the pool. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Isn't what obvious?" 

"Jesus Christ." He mumbled. "I'm a siren." He announced, and then stared at you as if expecting a huge reaction. 

You narrowed your eyes and raised your brows. "And that is...?" 

"Good god, figure it out on your own." He huffed. 

You sighed heavily. "Can you tell me your name?"

"It's Levi." He replied cooly.

You nodded and reluctantly extended a hand. "Nice to meet you, Levi, I'm (F/N)." 

He eyed your hand, taking his sweet time with deciding to shake it. Eventually, he raised a webbed hand and met yours. 

"(F/N)." He tested the name on his tongue. "I like that name."


	4. Uncovering

After you thanked him for rescuing you, Levi left not too long ago, assuring you that he would be back in a few hours. That was two hours ago. You'd taken this free time to walk around your tiny dome and make sure that, yes, the pool was indeed the only way out.

Great.

You went through your pouch, checking the contents and making sure that everything was in there. Your extra SD card, a few dollars, a pack of tic tacks, and your fish guide. Somehow, you ended up flipping through the guide. There were a bunch of tropical fish native to the Caribbean. It was interesting to read up on them and discover what was in the world around you.

As you flipped through the book, you reached the back, which was dedicated to the more rare species of fish. You skimmed through a few pages of shark and a page of Candy Basslet, you reached a page with an odd image on it.

A figure was drawn, torso up it was a muscular man, but from the hips down it was a large mermaid tail. The tail was deep blue and laced with rings of red around each scale, soft blue feathering lacing down the sides of the tail and meeting up with the magnificent fin at the end that dramatically fanned. Deep blue fins accented with red were placed evenly along the outsides of his arms and behind the ears. The man appeared to be snarling at the reader from behind his wavy brown hair. He barred sharp teeth and held his hands out to boast sharp claws.

You frowned and read the description.

_Assumed to reside in all ocean waters of the world, this extremely rare and violent creature has been blamed for the deaths of many at sea. Sightings of this creature are rarely reported, but many sailors that fell victim to boat-wrecking storms claim to have seen the piercing eyes of this creature glaring at them from beneath the water._

_This animal has been assumed to have magical and unworldly powers, with the presumed abilities to brew storms, shift the ocean to their bidding, summon other sea creatures, hypnotize, and even shape shift from human to animal. It is also assumed that it's tears can cure disease and heal wounds, and possibly grant immortality._

_No specimen has ever been caught and examined. Description based off of encounters._

_Speed: Unknown._  
Size: Unknown.  
Description: See image above.  
Conservation Status: Data Deficient.

_Your only chance of surviving an encounter with this creature is to hide and pray it does not find you._

Hands shaking softly, your eyes trailed slowly up to the title of the sea creature.

 _Siren_.

You launched the book across the room, gripping the sides of your head with your hands as the pages flipped in the air. How could you have been so stupid?! Sirens, those were stories from sailors, drunk on sea water and delusional from the Suns heat. But the book. The book says they're real.

"(F/N)? I'm back." Levis voice stopped your heart. You struggled to find you composure as you hobbled slowly into the hallway.

His arms were slung over the bank as you sat down in the sand and glanced around nervously.  
Levi, if he noticed, didn't say anything, and cocked his head to look at your leg.

"Is that leg still bleeding?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Give it here." He extended his arm to your leg. You gulped and eyed the small jet black fins along his pearly skin. You slowly extended your leg, wincing as his cold hand softly cradled your leg.

His palm brushed over the wound, a soft glow radiating from his hands and easing a comfortable warmth into the wound. You sighed in relief as the pain was extracted from your leg, but kept your guard up none the less.

"Levi?" You squeaked.

The man didn't look up a he worked, only offered a small hum.

"Did you do it?" His hand froze in place. His small eyes met your own, a silent reassurance that you were both on the same page.

"Yes." At this, you wrenched your leg back from his hands and scrambled to your feet. He called after you as you practically ran back into the large room. You collapsed to the sand, burrowing your head beneath your arms and allowing the sobs to escape your body.

You didn't know what kind of answer you expected. You might have silently hoped for a different one, or for conformation that you were right. Strong arms encased your huddled form, and immediately you began to writhe against the restraint.

" _YOU FUCKING KILLED THEM! IT WAS YOU! I WAS YOU! I FUCKING KNEW IT!"_ You screeched and pushed him away. He didn't budge and only held you tighter as you gave up and sobbed into his chest.

"I'm so sorry. Im so, so sorry. I don't want to hurt you, I won't." He mumbled into the top of your head as he curled protectively around you.

"Yo-you're lying. You're just keeping me around as a snack for later!" You shoved him off, just barely realizing that he was in a human form.

"No, Im not. I'm trying to help you-"

"Help me? Is that what you were doing back then when the storm was brewing on the horizon? When the mast crashed through the boat? When everyone died? You were helping me?!" You yelled,

"You would have died that day if I hadent brought you here!"

"Why does it matter? What does it matter if I lived or died? Why would you kill them but save me?! WHY?!"

" _I COULDNT DO IT_!" He bellowed.

You stopped, attempting to restrain your heavy panting.

"I just . . . Couldn't. I do this shit all the time. I kill, I kill, I kill. I eat . . . people. But I just looked at you, floating in the water, close to death. And . . I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not you." Levi studied your stunned expression and carefully stepped forward.

"That's why I'm going to protect you." His hands gripped your shoulders firmly, his eyes gleamed with determination and reassurance. You found yourself too stunned to speak as he pulled you to him and placed a soft kiss on the crown of your head.

But you never pulled away.


End file.
